A dozen years removed from the NBA, Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman remains a compelling character… well, for the same reason we watched Nicholas Cage in “Leaving Las Vegas.” The same reason half of Bravo’s shows exist. Because self-destruction can be entertaining so long as it is someone else.

Now Penny Marshall — a huge NBA fan and director of movies like “Big” and “A League of Their Own” — has turned her sights on Rodman, she told the Washington Post (hat tip to SLAM).

Lately, she has been working on a documentary about the basketball player Dennis Rodman, some of which she has been shooting via Skype. That came up because a) Ms. Marshall is a big sports fan. (“You can yell and scream at a game and no one’s taking you away in a white coat.”) And b) “I have a little radar to the insane,” she said. “They seek me out. Dennis and his agent asked if I would do a documentary.”

Yes, I’ll watch it. So will you, admit it.

If just about anyone other than Marshall were involved I would ignore this, but with her in the directors chair there could be something there.

And with Rodman in it, this will have more flamboyant outfits than the Sex and the City movies.

Penny Marshall is a regular at Staples Center, a basketball fan there for Lakers and Clippers games. She’s been there for years and every staff person there will tell you how genuine and nice she is. I don’t know about that — she did cut me off once to get to the self-serve ice cream machine in the media room first, although I admit it was a Reggie Evans-level box out and you have to respect that — but to a man everybody speaks highly of her. Which is rare in L.A.

Sources tell TMZ the double-cross started at a Lakers game last month … when a man claiming to be (Lamar Odom’s) assistant gave Penny a phone number he said was Lamar’s.

We’re told Penny and the person she thought was Lamar texted back and forth for several days — when finally “Lamar” asked her to loan his assistant a chunk o’ cash. Ever the faithful Lakers fan, Penny forked over more than five grand to the faux “assistant.”

Of course, after that the assistant disappeared. TMZ says the sum is more than $5,000 and that police are investigating. Marshall’s people would not comment.

The whole thing seems odd because Odom played both for the Clippers and Lakers in the time Marshall has been a regular at Staples and she knows a lot of players. She probably has a phone full of player numbers. Plus this happened after Odom left the Lakers. Add to all that the fact it is reported by TMZ and you can decide how much you choose to believe.

Let me get my bias out of the way up front — I am a big “Portlandia” fan. If you’re not watching it, well, you’re getting invited over to my house for dinner. Or going to a women’s book store with me. Portlandia is the IFC sketch comedy series from SNL’s Fred Armisen and fmusciian/comedian Carrie Brownstein. It lovingly pokes some fun at life in Portland.

And LaMarcus Aldridge will be on it soon, with Penny Marshall. A clip is above as proof.